6.  The applicants live in the village of Duba-Yurt, the Shali District in the Chechen Republic.
7.  According to the applicants, as of early 2000 the village of Duba-Yurt in the Shali District of the Chechen Republic was under the control of the federal forces, who established an administration, a military commander's office and a police station in the village. At the period described in the statement of facts, there were federal check-points at all roads leading to and from the village.
ii.  Bayali Elmurzayev
8.  The first applicant was married to Mr Bayali Abdullayevich Elmurzayev, born in 1968; they were the parents of the second, third and fourth applicants.
9.  At about 2 a.m. on 27 March 2004 around fifteen armed men wearing masks and uniforms burst into Bayali Elmurzayev's house at 15 Rodnikovaya Street, while a number of other armed men remained standing in the courtyard. Without introducing themselves, the men levelled their machine guns at the family members. Then they dragged Bayali Elmurzayev out of bed and beat him; they also beat his mother. Eventually the men took Bayali Elmurzayev outside, where two armoured personnel carriers, a Gazel vehicle, a Niva car and several UAZ off-road vehicles («таблетки») were parked and put him into an UAZ vehicle.
iii.  Sharip Elmurzayev
10.  The fifth applicant is a brother of Mr Sharip Khamidovich Elmurzayev, born in 1971. The sixth applicant was Sharip Elmurzayev's cohabiting partner; they were the parents of the seventh and eighth applicants.
11.  At about 2 a.m. on 27 March 2004 around ten armed men in masks burst into the courtyard at 10 Partizanskaya Street. There were two houses in the courtyard; the armed men entered and examined each of them. They grabbed Sharip Elmurzayev from his bed and beat the family members. The men swore in Russian. They took Sharip Elmurzayev outside and put him in a white Gazel vehicle that had no registration plate.
iv.  Khusin and Isa Khadzhimuradov
12.  The tenth applicant was married to Mr Khusin Imranovich Khadzhimuradov, born in 1975; they were the parents of the eleventh and twelfth applicants. The thirteenth applicant was married to Mr Isa Imranovich Khadzhimuradov, born in 1965; they are the parents of the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth applicants.
13.  At about 2 a.m. on 27 March 2004 a group of armed men forcibly entered the house at 21 Rodnikovaya Street, apprehended Khusin and Isa Khadzhimuradov and took them away.
v.  Lechi Shaipov
14.  The eighteenth applicant is a brother of Mr Lechi Abuyezitovich Shaipov, born in 1960. The latter was married to the nineteenth applicant; they were the parents of the twentieth and twenty-first applicants.
15.  At about 2 a.m. on 27 March 2004 around fifteen armed men wearing camouflage uniforms and masks arrived at the Shaipovs' house at 10 Beregovaya Street. The men broke down the entrance door and burst inside. Without introducing themselves, they ordered everyone to lie down, threatening the inhabitants of the house with weapons equipped with silencers, and demanded that the Shaipov men introduce themselves. Then they informed someone via a portable radio transmitter that they had “taken Shaipov as well”. They seized Lechi Shaipov's identity papers and the money that they had found. The eighteenth applicant looked through the window and saw two armoured personnel carriers, a Niva car, an UAZ vehicle and three off-road vehicles parked outside. Then the armed men took Lechi Shaipov to the street, put him in one of the vehicles and drove away.
vi.  Apti Murtazov
16.  The twenty-third and twenty-fourth applicants are the parents of Mr Apti Atsiyevich Murtazov, born in 1964. The twenty-second, twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth applicants are Apti Murtazov's siblings.
17.  At 2.30 a.m. on 27 March 2004 between eight and ten armed men wearing masks and uniforms arrived at the Murtazovs' house at 73 Nuradilova Street located near a check-point on the edge of Duba-Yurt. The twenty-second applicant was awake; he looked through the window and saw a number of UAZ vehicles parked outside.
18.  The armed men burst inside, took the stairs to the second floor and went directly to Apti Murtazov's bedroom. They awakened Apti Murtazov and demanded that he identify himself. Then they took him out of the house. The twenty-second applicant managed to look out of the window and saw eight vehicles, including two armoured personnel carriers, an UAZ vehicle and a Niva vehicle. However, he did not notice in which vehicle the armed men put his brother.
19.  After the armed men had left, the twenty-second applicant rushed into the street and ran to the check-point, where he saw the eight vehicles mentioned above driving in the direction of Grozny. At some point the vehicles crossed the river and stopped. The twenty-second applicant heard a few shots.
vii.  Zelimkhan Osmayev
20.  The thirty-first applicant is the mother of Mr Zelimkhan Umiyevich Osmayev, born in 1975. The twenty-seventh, thirty-second and thirty-third applicants are Zelimkhan Osmayev's siblings. Zelimkhan Osmayev was married to the twenty-eighth applicant; they were the parents of the twenty-ninth and thirtieth applicants.
21.  At about 2 a.m. on 27 March 2004 around fifteen armed men wearing the masks and uniforms of the special fast deployment team (“SOBR”) burst into the Osmayevs' house at 36 Podgornaya Street. The men spoke unaccented Russian. They turned on the light, awakened the Osmayevs and asked for Zelim Osmayev. Zelimkhan Osmayev identified himself and asked the armed men why they had come. The men took him outside, where three UAZ vehicles were parked. They brought Zelimkhan Osmayev to one of the vehicles and directed a flash-light at him as if they wanted someone to identify him. Then they put Zelimkhan Osmayev in a car and drove away.
viii.  Idris and Suleyman Elmurzayev
22.  The thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth applicants are the parents of Mr Idris Said-Khuseynovich Elmurzayev, born in 1974. Idris Elmurzayev was married to the thirty-sixth applicant; they were the parents of the thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth applicants.
23.  At about 2 a.m. on 27 March 2004 around fifteen armed men wearing masks and uniforms broke into the house at 23 Rodnikovaya Street and forced all family members to the floor. Then they took Idris Elmurzayev and his brother, Suleyman Elmurzayev, outside, put them in an UAZ off-road vehicle and drove away.
ix.  Other events
24.  On the same night a group of armed masked men took two other residents of Duba-Yurt, namely Umar and Ibragim Elmurzayev, from their home. After leaving the village, the servicemen allowed those two men and Suleyman Elmurzayev to get out of the vehicles, told them to lie still for several hours on the ground and left. Later the three men returned home.
(b)  The Government's account of events
25.  According to the Government, in the village of Duba-Yurt on 27 March 2004 in the period between 2 and 3.30 a.m. unidentified men wearing camouflage uniforms and masks, armed with automatic firearms and equipped with armoured personnel carriers and UAZ vehicles, abducted Bayali Elmurzayev from the house at 15 Rodnikovaya Street, Apti Murtazov from the house at 73 Nuradilova Street, Idris Elmurzayev from the house at 23 Rodnikovaya Street, Lechi Shaipov from the house at 10 Beregovaya Street, Khusin and Isa Khadzhimuratov from the house at 21 Rodnikovaya Street, Sharip Elmurzayev from the house at 10 Partizanskaya Street, and Zelimkhan Osmayev from the house at 36 Podgornaya Street and took them away in an unknown direction.
26.  In the applicants' submission, starting from 27 March 2004 they complained to a number of State law-enforcement agencies, such as the military commander's office of the Shali District (“the district military commander's office”), the Chechen President, the office of the Ministry of the Interior for the Shali District (“the district office of the interior”), the Ministry of the Interior of the Chechen Republic and the Federal Security Service, about the abduction of their eight relatives. It does not appear that those complaints concerned the searches allegedly carried out in their homes.
27.  According to the applicants, they also tried to establish their relatives' whereabouts through unofficial channels and had several conversations with various State officials. In the applicants' submission, Mr N., a counsellor to the Chechen President, told the applicants that the eight missing men were “drinking tea” at the federal military base in Khankala and promised that they would be released. Mr P., a military prosecutor whom the applicants met at the office of the Special Envoy of the Russian President in Chechnya for Rights and Freedoms, initially confirmed that the eight men had been kept at the Khankala base but later said that he knew nothing about the fate of those missing. The applicants overheard Mr K., an investigator of the prosecutor's office of the Shali District, talking to a military prosecutor's office via a radio transmitter. Mr K. allegedly said that the two Khadzhimuradov brothers would be released immediately and the others on the following day. According to the applicants, several officials told them that the eight abducted men would be released by 9 April 2004. The applicants submitted that they had no documentary evidence to confirm that they had, indeed, had the above-mentioned conversations with State officials. According to the Government, the applicants never informed the investigating authorities about their contacts with State officials.
28.  In the applicants' submission, they received via unofficial channels an unsigned and undated document entitled “KUS-332. The Shali District. Kidnapping” («КУС-332. Шалинский район. Похищение человека»), which apparently represented an extract from the register of crime reporting (книга учета сообщений о преступлениях – “KUS”) of the district office of the interior. According to the document, a copy of which the applicants submitted to the Court, at 9 p.m. on 29 March 2004 a duty unit of the district office of the interior had been informed by an unspecified prosecutor's office that eight inhabitants of Duba-Yurt had been apprehended by unidentified military servicemen driving armoured personnel carriers and UAZ off-road vehicles. Three officers, Mr K., Mr G. and Mr M., had carried out an inquiry and established that those missing had been detained in Khankala. According to the Government, there was no such document in the file of the investigation instituted into the abduction; however, on 29 March 2004 record no. 148 was entered in the KUS confirming the abduction on 27 March 2004 of the applicants' eight relatives. In the Government's submission, there was no other information, in particular any data concerning the location of those missing, in the record.
29.  On 9 April 2004 an unidentified person discovered nine dead bodies near the village of Serzhen-Yurt in the Shali District; eight of them were those of the applicants' missing relatives. On the same day the same person reported the event to the police. The corpses were transported to the district office of the interior.
30.  At about 3 or 4 p.m. on 9 April 2004 the applicants heard a rumour that their relatives had been found dead. By the time they arrived at the district office of the interior the police had examined and photographed the corpses. The applicants collected their relatives' dead bodies in the evening of 9 April 2004 and buried them on the following day.
31.  According to the applicants, Lechi Shaipov had sixteen gunshot wounds to the body and three to the head; Sharip Elmurzayev's body had several gunshot wounds and was burned, and the left eye was missing; Isa Khadzhimuradov's body was mutilated; Bayali Elmurzayev's body was mutilated to the extent that it was hardly recognisable and bore nineteen or twenty gunshot wounds; there were nineteen gunshot wounds to Zelimkhan Osmayev's body.
32.  On 29 April 2004 the Shali District Hospital issued three medical certificates of death in respect of Lechi Shaipov, Sharip Elmurzayev and Isa Khadzhimuradov. According to those certificates, each of the three men was murdered on 9 April 2004. Lechi Shaipov died of traumatic shock caused by multiple gunshot wounds to the body and extremities. Sharip Elmurzayev's death was a result of traumatic shock caused by multiple gunshot wounds to the head and body. Isa Khadzhimuradov died of traumatic shock caused by multiple gunshot wounds to the body.
33.  On 30 April 2004 the Civil Registry Office of the Shali District issued a certificate stating that Zelimkhan Osmayev had died on 9 April 2004. The cause of death was not specified.
34.  On 12 May 2004 the Civil Registry Office of the Shali District issued death certificates in respect of Bayali Elmurzayev and Idris Elmurzayev. According to the certificates, both men died on 9 April 2004; the cause of death was not specified.
35.  It is unclear whether official death certificates were issued in respect of Idris Elmurzayev, Khusin Khadzhimuradov and Apti Murtazov.
36.  On 27 March 2004 Lechi Shaipov's father filed a written compliant about his son's abduction to the prosecutor's office of the Shali District (“the district prosecutor's office”).
37.  On 8 April 2004 the prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic (“the republican prosecutor's office”) forwarded the thirty-fourth applicant's complaint about the disappearance of Bayali, Idris and Sharip Elmurzayev to the district prosecutor's office. On the same day it forwarded to the district prosecutor's office complaints by other relatives of the eight missing inhabitants of Duba-Yurt.
38.  On 8 April 2004 the acting military commander of the Chechen Republic demanded that the district military commander's office verify the facts complained of by the eighteenth and twenty-second applicants by 9 and 10 April 2004, respectively.
39.  On 16 April 2004 the district prosecutor's office informed the twenty-second applicant that the investigation into his brother's kidnapping in case no. 36025 was underway and that investigative measures were being taken to resolve the crime. On the same date the republican prosecutor's office informed some of the applicants that the investigation into the kidnapping of the eight inhabitants of Duba-Yurt was pending.
40.  On 5 June 2004 the republican prosecutor's office informed the applicants that the investigation in case no. 36025 had been suspended on account of a failure to identify those responsible. They further noted that, despite the suspension of the proceedings, investigative measures were being taken to resolve the crime and advised the applicants of their right to appeal against the decision.
41.  On 8 June 2004 the military prosecutor's office of military unit no. 20116 informed the eighteenth and twenty-second applicants that the servicemen of that unit had not carried out any special operations in Duba-Yurt and had not apprehended any individuals on the dates mentioned in their complaints.
42.  It does not appear that the applicants received any further information regarding the investigation.
(b)  Information provided by the Government
43.  According to the Government, on 31 March 2004 the district prosecutor's office instituted an investigation into the disappearance of the eight inhabitants of Duba-Yurt under Article 126 (2) of the Russian Criminal Code (aggravated kidnapping). The case file was assigned the number 36025.
44.  On the same date the investigating authorities sent a number of enquiries to representatives of the federal military authorities, district and republican departments of the Federal Security Service, town and district prosecutor's offices of the Chechen Republic and the criminal police of the Shali District. They requested information as to which military units had been stationed in the Shali District and could have participated in the detention of the applicants' eight relatives, whether any special operations had been carried out in that area on the relevant date, whether any criminal proceedings had ever been brought against, or detention order given in respect of, the applicants' relatives, and whether they had been kept in any of the detention centres in the Chechen Republic. According to the Government, the military and law-enforcement bodies replied that they had no information as to whether, and which, military units had conducted any special operation on 27 March 2004, that no criminal proceedings had ever been brought and no special measures had ever been taken against the applicants' eight relatives, and that they had never been arrested or detained by any of them and had not been listed among the detainees of any detention centres.
45.  In the Government's submission, during the investigation the authorities inspected the crime scenes at each of the houses from which the applicants' eight relatives had been abducted.
46.  The Government further submitted without specifying the date that seven relatives of those missing, including the first, fifth and twenty-third applicants, were declared victims of a crime. They were all questioned on unspecified dates and confirmed the circumstances of their family members' abduction, stating, in particular, that they had been taken away by armed men in camouflage uniforms and masks who had arrived in UAZ vehicles and armoured personnel carriers. The twenty-fifth applicant, questioned on 5 April 2004, made similar submissions.
47.  According to the Government, on 30 March 2004 the military commander of the Shali District drew up a report stating that on 27 March 2004 federal forces had carried out a special operation in the village of Duba-Yurt, during which the applicants' eight relatives had been apprehended and delivered to the federal military base in Khankala. During his witness interview of 7 May 2004, the military commander of the Shali District stated that on 27 March 2004 he had learnt “from radio communications” about the abduction of eight inhabitants of Duba-Yurt and had gone to the village to clarify the circumstances of the incident, and that his report had been based on the information which he had received from local residents.
48.  In a witness interview of 5 April 2004 Suleyman Elmurzayev, one of the three men who had been taken away and then released on the date of the incident (see paragraphs 23 and 24 above), stated that on 27 March 2004 a group of men wearing camouflage uniforms and armed with automatic firearms had burst into the house at 23 Rodnikovaya Street and forced him outside, where he had been put in an UAZ vehicle. After having driven about 500 metres the vehicle had stopped and the men ordered him and his two uncles, apprehended with him, out of the car. They remained there for an hour, threatening the three men with death by shooting. He had seen two UAZ vehicles driving away. According to the Government, Ibragim Elmurzayev made similar statements. They did not provide any information as to whether Umar Elmurzayev had been questioned in connection with the incident of 27 March 2004.
49.  On 5 April 2004 the military prosecutor of the United Group Alignment received a letter from the Chief of the Headquarters of the United Group Alignment stating that no special operations had been conducted in Duba-Yurt on 27 March 2004.
50.  The Government further submitted that on 9 April 2004 the district prosecutor's office had instituted criminal proceedings under Article 105 (2) of the Russian Criminal Code (aggravated murder) in connection with the discovery on the same date of nine dead bodies, with bound hands and multiple gunshot entry wounds, in a river in the Shali District. The case file was assigned the number 36027.
51.  On the same date the corpses were identified by residents of Duba-Yurt; eight of them were those of the applicants' eight missing relatives. Rope knots were seized from the hands of the bodies and sent for expert examination.
52.  On the same date the investigator in charge inspected the crime scene and found the trace of an unidentified motor vehicle and two bullets of 7.62 mm calibre.
53.  A number of expert examinations were ordered and performed. According to those examinations, a tyre trace found at the scene of the incident was that of an UAZ vehicle and the two bullets had been fired from a machine-gun. An expert examination of the rope knots found that they had all been of the same type and that it was impossible to establish for which profession the use of such knots was typical. The results of medical forensic examinations of the corpses confirmed that they had multiple gunshots wounds to the heads, chests and extremities and that any of those wounds could be lethal.
54.  By a decision of 12 April 2004 the prosecutor of the Shali District ordered that criminal cases nos. 36025 and 36027 be joined under the former number.
55.  On 13 April 2004 the investigating authorities questioned the deputy commander of the consolidated special group of the Federal Security Service, who stated that the group's personnel had not conducted any special operations in Duba-Yurt on 27 March or 8 and 9 April 2004 and had not detained any residents there, and that he had learnt about the abduction of eight residents of Duba-Yurt from the village administration.
56.  During a witness interview of 14 April 2004 the commander of military unit no. 75143-1 stated that his personnel did not participate in any special operations, that it was strictly forbidden to his personnel to access any settlement, that there had been no Gazel or UAZ vehicles at the disposal of his military unit and that only one of three armoured personnel carriers belonging to his unit was in working order.
57.  On 14 April 2004 the investigating authorities requested the commander of military unit no. 90960 to provide information as to whether armoured personnel carrier no. 80, Gazel vehicles, an UAZ-469 and an UAZ-3962 vehicle were at the disposal of his military unit, and, if so, whether those vehicles had left the territory where the unit had been located in the period from 27 March to 9 April 2004. The commander replied that his unit had only an armoured UAZ-469 vehicle with registration number 0669 KK 21 RUS, and that this vehicle had not left the location of the unit during the indicated period.
58.  During a witness interview of 15 April 2004 the commander of military unit no. 90960 stated that there were about a thousand servicemen under his command and that a number of motor vehicles were at the disposal of his unit, namely armoured personnel carrier no. 70, an Ural-4320 truck, Kamaz trucks, a GAZ-66 vehicle, a ZIL-131 vehicle, a creeper tractor and an UAZ-469 car. He further stated that during the period from 27 March to 9 April 2004 the military personnel and vehicles of his unit had not been involved in any special operations in the vicinity of Duba-Yurt and that he had learnt about the killing of several residents of Duba-Yurt from law-enforcement officers. According to the Government, servicemen Z., G. and L. questioned on the same date, made similar oral submissions.
59.  In his witness interview of 16 April 2004 the deputy commander of the battalion “West” stated that on 27 March 2004 the battalion's personnel had not received an order, nor pursued any combat mission in the village of Duba-Yurt, and that, according to the battalion's register, no motor and armoured vehicles belonging to the battalion had been used on 26 or 27 March 2004. He also stated that he had learnt about the abduction of eight residents of Duba-Yurt in early April 2004.
60.  On the same date the investigating authorities questioned the commander of the battalion “West”, who had made statements similar to those of the deputy commander, and examined the register confirming that no motor vehicles, including armoured vehicles, had been used on 27 March 2004.
61.  On 12 and 22 April 2004 the investigating authorities questioned a number of residents of Duba-Yurt, including the twenty-seventh applicant, who made similar statements to the effect that during the night of 27 March 2004 they had seen military vehicles, in particular, an armoured personnel carrier and an UAZ vehicle, moving in their village. According to the Government, the twenty-seventh applicant did not mention during his witness interview with the investigating authorities that the men who had abducted his relative had been wearing the uniforms of the special fast deployment team (“SOBR”), as he did in his submissions to the Court.
62.  On 24 April 2004 case no. 36025 was joined with case no. 32026 opened in connection with the abduction and murder of a resident of Grozny, whose dead body had been found on 9 April 2004 along with the bodies of the applicants' eight relatives. The case file was assigned the number 32026.
63.  The Government did not provide any further information regarding the investigation.
64.  In September 2007, when the application was communicated to them, the Government were invited to produce a copy of the investigation file in criminal case no. 32026 opened in connection with the abduction of the applicants' relatives and discovery of their dead bodies. The Government produced several documents but refused to submit the entire file stating that, under Article 161 of the Russian Code of Criminal Procedure, disclosure of the documents was contrary to the interests of the investigation and could entail a breach of the rights of the participants in the criminal proceedings. They also submitted that they had taken into account the possibility of requesting confidentiality under Rule 33 of the Rules of Court, but noted that the Court provided no guarantees that once in receipt of the investigation file, the applicants or their representatives would not disclose these materials to the public. According to the Government, in the absence of any sanctions in respect of applicants for the disclosure of confidential information and materials, there were no guarantees concerning compliance by the applicants with the Convention and the Rules of Court. At the same time, the Government suggested that a Court delegation could be given access to the file in Russia, with the exception of those documents containing military and State secrets, and without the right to make copies of the case file.
65.  The documents submitted by the Government included:
(a)  four reports of 29 March 2004 on inspection of crime scenes at the houses at 73 Nuradilova Street from which Apti Murtazov had been taken, at 15 Rodnikovaya Street from which Bayali Elmurzayev had been taken, at 21 Rodnikovaya Street from which Khusin and Isa Khadzhimuradov had been taken, at 23 Rodnikovaya Street from which Idris Elmurzayev had been taken, and 10 Partizanskaya Street from which Sharip Elmurzayev had been taken;
(b)  a letter of 29 March 2004 by which the prosecutor of the Shali District sent the materials concerning “the abduction by unidentified persons on 27 March 2004 in Duba-Yurt” of the applicants' eight relatives to the office of the interior of the Shali District “for registration”;
(c)  reports of 12 April 2004 drawn up by a forensic medical expert in respect of the dead bodies of each of the applicants' relatives on the basis of the transcripts of examination of the corpses performed on 9 April 2004.
66.  The reports of 12 April 2004 attest the presence of multiple gunshot entry wounds to the heads and bodies of the applicants' deceased relatives and to the extremities of some of them, and state that any of those wounds could have been lethal and that the death of each of the applicants' relatives occurred in the period from one to five days prior to the date on which the corpses were examined, namely 9 April 2004. The report drawn up in respect of Sharip Elmurzayev also states that the left eye is missing, that both jaws are broken and that the lower teeth are missing as a result of gunshot wounds to the head. The report drawn up in respect of Isa Khadzhimuratov attests “the traumatic amputation” of the teeth on the right side of both jaws but does not specify what the cause of that amputation was, and when it occurred. The reports also state that it is impossible to answer the other questions regarding the corpses without carrying out a full forensic medical examination of them.
67.  The Government also submitted a judgment of Prikubanskiy District Court of the Republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, dated 8 September 2004, and a decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, dated 19 October 2004, by which a plaintiff had been awarded a certain amount in respect of non-pecuniary damage inflicted by the unlawful actions of a prosecutor's office.